Most Girls Podcast

Our Episode 22 guest is artist and dancer Nika Kermani. I first met Nika when she and her sister did some modeling for my swimwear brand, and over the last year or so I have enjoyed watching her develop as an entrepreneur. Chrissy and I spoke with Nika about her time volunteering in Israel and the Caribbean, the importance of her Bahai faith and how it is a source of strength for her, her most recent series of paintings and how they were influenced by Georgia O’Keefe, how she started dancing and what it was like to dance with the USC Trojan Dance Force, and opening up her own dance studio in her father’s former auto body shop.

Professional kiteboarder and entrepreneur Sensi Graves joins us to talk about life and business. When she isn’t traveling around the world kiteboarding, Sensi designs and manufactures a line of sustainable, made in the USA swimwear for women. Chrissy and I spoke to Sensi about how she started kiteboarding, learning how to design swimwear and run a business, advice that she has for young entrepreneurs, and how she maintains her hustle.

Teacher, winemaker, and water woman Tarnna Simpers chats with Melissa and Chrissy about the year she spent teaching in Micronesia, her love of the water and how she is sharing it with her daughters, growing up in Hood River and why she moved back, managing a teaching career, a business, and motherhood, and advice that she has for parents heading into a challenging year of homeschooling and distance learning.

Our Episode 19 guest is Britt Oase, CEO of Special Olympics Oregon. From the minute we started chatting, Britt felt like the best friend we hadn’t met yet. Chrissy and Melissa spoke with Britt about her incredible experience working on Super Bowl LII, how she got started in the male-dominated world of football and basketball, why she made the switch from professional sports to the non-profit world, what it was like finding out the organization she had just been put in charge of was completely out of money, and why she decided to stick it out and turn things around.

Our Episode 18 guest is stylist, television personality, lifestyle guru, and activist Robin Allen. Melissa and Chrissy spoke with Robin about growing up biracial in rural Montana, finding her identity at art school, and why she moved back to a small town after years in LA. We talked a lot about the Black Lives Matter movement, and Robin had some wise advice for white women wanting to be allies. We also discussed the roles people play in a revolution, the impact of the Wall of Moms in Portland and why it is getting attention, the responsibility that business and fashion have in promoting diversity and change, and bringing that ethos into our own personal and businesses lives. Because we can’t seem to have a conversation without discussing the pandemic, we also talked about how Robin is pivoting her business model, and her new YouTube show, launching in April.

Chrissy and Melissa spoke with Tess about how she earned multiple scientific patents with no formal scientific education and which of her many talents is her biggest passion. We also chatted about recording her new album and how she came to work with some of the most important producers and musicians in the industry, the ways that her Hood Crest winery is keeping staff and customers safe, the future of music and live performances in a post-Covid world, and which of her many accomplishments she is most proud of.

Melissa and Chrissy speak with Janet Hamada about how a trip to Bali as a young teenager triggered her interest in social work, her family’s experience in the internment camps in WW2, her time spent helping refugees at Guantanamo Bay, the importance of the services that TND provides, and how the pandemic is bringing to light the disparities in our community and what we can do to fix them.

Melissa and Chrissy interview professional mountain biker Bekah Rottenberg, a former teacher who started her own strength training and coaching business a few years ago. We spoke with Bekah about how she started mountain biking, the inequities between men and women in her sport, how boys and girls approach risk differently, why she decided to start her own business, and how the mountain bike industry can make the sport more accessible.

Karen Bureker is an exceptional athlete, a mom of three, and one of the kindest people I know. Melissa and Chrissy spoke with Karen about winning the first women’s pole vault national championship, why she became a firefighter, how diversity within a team only makes it stronger, and how the firefighting profession is changing to be more accessible to women and other minorities.

We will not be releasing an episode of the Most Girls Podcast this week. We had a great interview with firefighter/paramedic Karen Bureker lined up, but I have made the decision to step back for a week to focus on making sure that other voices are heard.